Flexible binder-post for loose-leaf binders.



H. C. MILLER.

FLEXIBLE BINDER POST FOR LOOSE LEAF BINDERS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-.5, I9I5.

Patented May 30, 1916.

man

HENRY C. MILLER, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

E-LEXIBLE BINDER-POST FOR LOOS-LEAF BINDER/S.

Application filed' November 5, 1915.

17 o all 'whom t may concern 13e it known that l, lil-:NKY C. Minnen, a

citizen of the United ltitates, and resident ot' Milwaukee, inthe'county or' Milwaukee and State of v\\"'isconsin, have inventedcertain new and useful. Improvements in Flexible vlinder-Posts forLoose-Leal Binders; and

fnent .ndit is therefore the object of the present invention to' providea means for adijusting the relative positions of the binder headsfin amanner independent of the adjustment procured by moving the posts intoone of the heads, whereby an exceedingly Wide scope o' adjustment may behad, it hcing more particularly an object to provide this larger degreeol adjustment without intert'erence with the retraction of the flexibleposts to procure desired finer degree of ad` justrnent and to procurethe aforementioned clamping function of the leaves in the head.

It is further an object of the present invention to provide meansfacilitating thev movement ol the flexible post sections from therespective binder head in which they are disposed to thus permitexpulsion of the post sections from the head by means d1sposed withinthe head. i

Vvlih the above and other objects and ad-y Vantages in view, theinvention U particularly in the novel combination', ar-

rangement and formation of parts more par-- hereinafter described andpartiout in the appended claims. had to the accompanying drawingswherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectionalvievv taken through the head portion ofthe loose leaf binder and embodying in the present invention.- Fig@ is ahorizontal sectional view ticularly cularly pointed Reference is takenon the'iine 2-2 of lFig. 1, through the' base head member and showingthe adjust- Specification of Letters Patent.

resides more i' Patented May 30, 1916.

SerialNo. 59,714.

ing mechanism. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, 5 andtdesignate respectively the upper and lower binder heads which are in theform ot' elongated caslngs substantially oblong in cross-section andclosed at their ends by the solid end blocks, 7. The upper clamping head5 is provided With a hinge top 8 which is normally held in closedposition by the locking rod f), passed longitudinally into the casingand engaging alined ears 10, carried within the casing and securedthereto and to the cover, this being the usual construction to permitadjustment and manipulation of the binder posts.

For receiving the binder posts, the inner side of the upper head isprovided adjacent its ends with bearing sleeves 11 extending ther-cinto,and the corresponding portions o't' the base head member havingoutwardly termed sleeve portions 12. The binder posts ot the presentinvention are 'l'ornied each ot a'series of short metallic links 123each formed of-a cylindrical section havingv a slot in one endand a lugon its other end engageable in the slot of the adja cent linlc whereby acontinuously cylindrical body structure is provided. The inner endportions of the bodies and lugs are rounded to permit the posts to flexn one diret-tion only, and the posts are passed through the sleeve 12and'bent inwardly to extend in the base head 6. Each of the flexiblepost bodies terminates at its end adjacent the upper head 5 in acylindrical porthe liexible body portions may operate to provide lingerroom in manipulating the leaves and to provide forattaehments Withinlesser limits. Disposed within the head 5 is a. securing member includina knurled head 17, resting against the s eeve 11 and a threaded shank,engageable in the socket of the section 16, or in the section lftif noextensions 16 are provided. i

The means forretracting and extending the flexible post bodies comprisesa feed loo ilo i screw 19, extending longitudinally in one side of thebase head and-bearing at' its ends in the end blocks, of .the head, thisf screw being provided with oppositely inclined series of threads withwhich are s engaged carriageblocks 20,01 oblong shape Y whereby theyareheld against-.rotation and f for sliding'movemen't by' abutment withadjacent sides of the head casing.` The inner ends of the4 flexible postbodies terminate in cylindrical sections'21',which are engaged inthe'blocks and secured. Thus by rotating theeed screw in eitherdirection, the llexible posts will be extended from or retracted intothe head. For manipulating the feed screw, the end plugs 7 of thebasehead are provided with sockets 22 into which extend secured extremitiesof the lfeed screwwhich are engageable by the usual Vsectional Hpostbinderkey. Proper movement of the exible post, sections in movingoutwardly ot' the binder head through the openings 12 is insured by aguide Shield 23 in the shape of al1 elbow channel member which is seffcured in the head fd at the outer sides of the 25 sleeve 12 and Jwhichcurves inwardly to the A opposite wall of the head. This movement of thepost sections is also'facilitated by the,iorniation of the end portionsof the linksand of the said lugs thereof, it being noted that the outerside of each of the lugs `and the end of the adjacent link is eachcurved coincident with the arc of a circle having the pivotal connectionof the link i as its center whereby a continuous outer N5A curved 'edgeis provided upon bending of f the links. y"An exceedingly simple,readily operated, arid compact structure' is thus provided as the .linkof the post between the -heads may loe-adjusted to any degree,a'djustlrment ofsaid posts may thus provide the vclamping means for theleaves between the heads and thus obviates the necessity of a '.sprinclamping plate suchas is usually rovi ed. Finger room between the eddstofacilitate insertion or removal of theleaves, may always be hadirrespective A of the number of leaves held in the binder by means ofthe provision of the extension sections 16, which will be' used inconnection with relatively eat variation in the width of thee-leaf boies held, minor variations being provided for bythe flexible adjust mentof the posts. v f Although theposts have been described 5 5 fascomprising a` series of links, I do not desire to limit m self to thisstructure as it is y obvious that the posts could be formed in f anymanner and of any material to insure desired lexure.` It is also obviousthat vari- Wous meanscould be provided in the base l. A"head foradjustingthe posts without departing from the spirit of the invention inany manner. f-lj, lhile I 'have/shown and described the @il binder alcrossing a single head wherein the ing the same, thus increasing t'jutment of the posti; c v

' vtieners exible posts are adapted to travel back and forth for-thepurpose o f extendingv or retracting thedevice, it is obvious that Imay, in some instances, Without departing from the s irit of minvention, provide both of the inder hea s with means for reeeiving themovable ends of the post members and means for extending` and retrat icscope of ad- .1. A loose leaf binder comprising binder heads, and postmembers each formed of a l Hexible body having a socketed end to receiveextension links and means associated 30 with the other ends of the postmembers or extending or retracting the` posts.

"2. Alooseleaf binder comprismg binder heads, flexible post membersconnecting the heads comprising a series of links, the said 35 postmembers having end portions extended into at least one of the heads atapproximately a right angle to the connecting por tion of said postmembers, mechanism associated with said end portions whereby they aredrawn toward each other or spread apart to lengthen orshorten the headconnecting ortions, and means for removing or adding links to theflexible posts.

' 3. A loose leaf binder comprising a binder 95 head, a hollow secondbinder head provided with openings in its wall adjacent the other head aflexible post member connected with the first head, and passed throughthe said openings into the hollow head and directed laterally in saidhead, and a delecting member in the hollow head adjacent each openingadapted to engage the outer portion of the post at its bend and meansassociated with the ends ofthe posts within the hollow head forextending and retracting said ends.

4.151 loose leaf binder comprisin binder heads, a hollow second headprovi ed with openings in its Wall adjacent the first head, flexiblepost members connecting the heads and having end sections extended throuh the openings and directed laterally Withln Vthe hollow head, saidsections comprising each a series of links having mutually engaging lugsand slots at their ends, adj acont sides of the link end and lugs beingcurved to provide a continuously curved outer edge upon bending, thesection detlecting members for'the posts disposed within the hollow headadjacent the' openingsv thereof and means associated with the ends ofthe posts within the hollow vhead for extending and retracting saidends. v

5. A loose leaf binder comprising a binder head, a hollow second headprovided with openings in its wall adjacent the first hemd, llexiblepost membersl connected with the rst head and passed through 'the saidopen'- ings and directed laterally'fin the second head, means connectedwith the portions of 130 Lieeeze the Iposts Within the heecls for.relatively moving seid posts,.enol curved deilector poi'- tioiis Within.the hollow hinder heed adjacentv the openings eclapteol to engage theouter portions of the posts at theii` bends.

6. il loose leaf binder post comprising e, flexible vloooly memberhaving one end portion` adapted for association with e binolei' heed tobe extended or retracted Withrespoot thereto and e plurality ofextension l adapted for mutuel connection and for con? heving certainends engegeehle through,

nection with the other end of the heeel member adapted for connection toseid extensions or to seid other end of the post.,

8. A loose leef loiiiflei comprising e peil' of hollow hinder headsprovided with openings in their adjacent faces, loinolei1 posts openingsof one heed and adopted for eittensioo and retraction with. respecttheieto,

ost and ay i the other ends of the posi; being engegeehl'e thiough theopenings of the other heed, eX

tension sections also engageehle thiough seid' tilt.

openings of the other heed and adeptealiioi? securement with cachlothei' and with tie titi post ends incl retaining' hea-de adapted to hedisposed. Within the seid other binding heed and to be connected withthe extensible eeetons or with the seid other post ends.

9. ln eloose leef bioclei the combination with e hinder head, enel esecond hollow binde? heed of fiexible posts having ends extensivelyconnected; with the holloeT hinder Letalj e plurality of extensionliiike eclepteol for connection with each other and With'the othei1 endsof the flexible posts to form contimiations thei'eof, and heed membersadept-4 ed for connection eitheln with one of the em 'tension sectionsoi*- the cutis of the .posts to" n limit movement the lirst heed.

in testimony that l claim the foregoing l. have hereunto set my hand etMilwaukee, in

of the posts with respect to the county o' Milwaukee and State of Wie#cousin, in presence of two Witnesses HENRY o; Mieiiee Witnesses:

lloweim FRANCE# Geo. li i'o'oe'et D l SC L AI lVl E F2 1,14,979.-HenryC. Miller, Milwaukee, 'Vis. FLEXiBLE BINDER POST FOR LOOs- LEAF BINDERs.Patent dated May 30, 1916. Disclaimer filed February 24, 1930, by theassignee, Stationers Loose Leaf Company.

Hereby enters this disclaimer as follows:

Hereby disclaims from the scope of claim 3 any structure except when thepost members are cylindrical in form and comprised of links so as topermit them to be flexed sufficiently sharp to make the right angle turndescribed within the hollow binder head.

Hereby disclaims from the scope Of claim 5 any structure except when theflexible lpost members are cylindrical in form and comprised of links soas to permit them to be flexed sufficiently sharp to make the rightangle turn described within the hollow binder head and are connectedwith the first binder head set forth by headed securing members screwconnected axially to the flexible posts.

[Ocial Gazette Marcil, 11, 1930]

